First description of the sound pressure and particle velocity components of the ambient

noise and boat noise recorded at the WWF- Miramare Natural Marine Reserve (Trieste,
Italy) Marta Angelo Farina , Adriano Farina Enrico Armelloni , Linda Sebastianutto , Carlo Franzosini , Marta Picciulin
1* 5, 1 2 3 3,4

1 University of Parma, Ind. Eng. Dept., Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43100 Parma, Italy;
2 SISSA-International School of Advanced Studies, Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, Via Lionello Stock 2/2 34135 Trieste, Italy;
3 WWF-Natural Marine Reserve of Miramare, viale Miramare 349, 34014 Trieste, Italy;
4 University of Trieste, CSEE - Department of Life Sciences, via Giorgieri 7, 34127 Trieste, Italy; marta.picciulin@gmail.com
5 University of York, Department of Electronics, Heslington, York, UK. YO10 5DD.

Summary of the present work Data Analysis

A novel hydrophonic probe (“Soundfish”) placed inside the WWF-Natural Marine Reserve of Miramare The figure on the left presents the spectral analysis of the SAN recording, showing the 1/3 octave band spectra
(Trieste, Italy) allowed for characterization of the underwater acoustic background noise, and the noise produced in terms of SPL and PVL.
by a small outboard-engine boat moving at 6 knots not just in terms of sound pressure, but also of the three The figure on the right present the spectra; analysis of a boat passage, averaged over 10 s,
Cartesian components of the particle velocity.
Sea Ambient Noise - wide-band: SPL=132.1 dB - PVL = 80.2 dB Boat passage - wide-band: SPL=162.6 dB - PVL = 109.8 dB

183.5 120 183.5 120

Description of the
163.5 100 163.5 100

143.5 80 143.5 80

PVL (dB re 1 nm/s)

PVL (dB re 1 nm/s)

SPL (dB re 1 mPa)

SPL (dB re 1 mPa)

recording probe 123.5

103.5
60

40
SPL
PVL
123.5

103.5
60

40
SPL
PVL

“Soundfish”
The system is based on a modified ZOOM H2 digital sound recorder, re-named Brahma, capable
of recording the signals coming from a probe consisting of 4 hydrophones, placed at the vertexes
of a tetrahedron: this is the underwater equivalent of a Soundfield™ microphone. The recorder
83.5 20 83.5 20

operates at 48 kHz, 24 bits and records standard uncompressed WAV files over a 16Gb SD card, 63.5 0 63.5 0
10 100 1000 10000 10 100 1000 10000
which can be easily processed later on a PC. Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

A software tool, named Brahmavolver, was developed for converting the raw signals coming form The figures below show the analysis of one of these passages, occurred at a speed of approximately 6 knots. It
the 4 hydrophones to output signals, representing respectively the Sound pressure and the three shows the time history of SPL and PVL, and the magnitudes of the three Cartesian components of Sound
Cartesian components of particle velocity. Ultimately
Intensity computed in the central two-octaves band 309 to 1414 Hz. The analysis of these Cartesian
this analysis reconstructs the trajectory of the
sound source, and, with some approximation, M inputs V outputs components allows for estimating the azimuth and elevation of the boat at every instant, making it possible to
also evaluates the distance of the sound source reconstruct approximately its trajectory, by projecting the sound intensity vector against the sea surface
from the probe. The processing is based on the use
WWF-Natural Marine Reserve of
Miramare of a matrix of 4x4 FIR filters, currently 2048 points Time Profile Sound Intensity Components - Time Profile

long,as shown in the figure on the right. 170 25

20
160
The inputs are the sound pressure signals sampled by the M hydrophones (M=4), located at the vertexes of a 15

tetrahedron, properly aligned with the Cartesian reference system of the probe (which is usually manually 150
10
aligned with the geographical reference system). The inputs are the sound pressure signals sampled by the M

Intensity ( W/m )
hydrophones (M=4), located at the vertexes of a tetrahedron, properly aligned with the Cartesian reference 5

2
140
Lp, Lv (dB)
p
vx Ix
system of the probe (which is usually manually aligned with the geographical reference system). vy 0 Iy
130 vz 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Iz
-5

The filter coefficients are computed numerically, inverting a matrix of measured 120
-10

impulse responses, obtained with the sound source placed at a large number D 110
-15

of positions all around the probe. -20

Currently the probe was 100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -25
d = 1…D
assembled with a radius source positions  c1,1 c1,2 ... c1,d ... c1, D 
Time (s) Time (s)

of 100 mm, resulting in an

c
 2,1 c2, 2 ... c2,d ... c2, D 
 ... ... ... ... ... ... 
optimal frequency range d (t) C 
 cm,1 cm ,2 ... cm ,d ... cm , D 
comprised between 100 m = 1…M  ... ... ... ... ... ...  Overplotting the coordinates of the estimated position o the sound source on the map of the site, a rough
 
Hz and 2 kHz, where most hydrophones cM ,1 cM , 2 ... cM ,d ... cM , D  estimate o the boat trajectory is found:
of the noise generated by
boats is known to exist.

Preliminary tests in pool 100

The suitable number of impulse response measurements were performed on the Soundfish probe inside the test
pool kindly made available by WASS in Livorno, Italy.

A turntable, controlled by our Aurora software used for generating of the test signals, controlling of the turntable
and for the deconvolution of the impulse responses) , was employed for automatically rotating the probe in steps
of 30 degrees both along azimuth and elevation, yielding a set of 6x12 impulse responses. 0

After the measurements were finished, the set of 4x4 processing filters was computed, and loaded into the
multichannel Brahmavolver processor, making it possible to derive the pressure and particle velocity signals.

The first test was done processing a set of measurements during a complete rotation of the probe, for checking
the accuracy of the reconstructed polar patterns, which are shown in figure below.
0 0
500 Hz 1 kHz

330 30 330 30 -100

-100 0 100

300 60 300 60

270 90 270 90

240 120 240 120

W W
X X
210 150 210 150
Y Y
Z Z
180 180

Field recordings Conclusions

The probe and the Brahma recorder, located inside a waterproof The new Soundfish probe can be employed for an analysis of the cause-effect
container, were placed on the sea bottom, at a depth of 8m, in the
protected area of the Miramare Reserve (recording point: Lat relationship, as at every instant the position of the source, relative to the receiver, is
45°42'10.61"N, Long 13°42'41.96"E). A 30 minutes long recording of known, alongside with the quantities relevant for assessing the impact of
the Sea Ambient Noise (SAN) was performed, without significant boat human-produced noise over marine species, either sensitive to sound pressure
activity around.
or to particle motion.
Then a fiberglass speedboat, (w-shaped hull, 4,70 m lenght, 815 cm3
/ 4 strokes outboard engine) was operated, in a series of passages The reliability of the new measurement system must now be assessed by employing it in a number of surveys,
above the probe, for checking the capability of detecting the variable under different sea conditions, at different depths, and with various kinds of noise sources.
direction-of-arrival of the noise during the pass-by. It could also be advisable to repeat the calibration in the pool, employing narrower angular steps, for ensuring
computation of even better digital filters. .

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Italian Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea.